Scalable Resource and QoS Brokering Mechanisms for Massively Multiplayer Online Games

Multiplayer online games have become an increasingly integral part of online entertainment. With advances in social media, the number of players of these games is increasing at a very rapid rate, which in some cases has been observed to be exponential. This is when resource becomes a concern. In this thesis, I investigated several challenges in developing and maintaining multiplayer games such as hotspots, genrespeci c limitations, unpredictable quality of service and rigidity in resource availability. I showed that these issues can be solved by adopting mechanisms for separation of resource concerns from functional concerns and coordination of resources. To support resource coordination, I divided the ownership of resources among three partiesgame owner, resource owner and game player. I developed the CyberOrgs-MMOG API, which supports Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG) platforms capable of resource sharing among multiple peers, through mechanisms for acquiring these resources dynamically. I showed that dynamic acquisition of resources can solve the resource questions mentioned above. The API was evaluated using a 2D game with up to 250 simulated players. I also showed, how the game's responsiveness can be dynamically adjusted in a scalable way. This thesis presents the design and implementation of the CyberOrgs-MMOG API, interfaces provided to the interacting agents representing di erent parties. I integrated a 2D multiplayer game with the API and evaluated the mechanisms supported by the API

Uses and Gratifications of Consumers in Social Media Commercial Pages: A Study in Three Facebook Business Pages in Bangladesh

Social media has become a recognized media platform that connects one-third of the world s population Facebook is the most popular social media in the world Facebook offers an easy way for businesses to convey content and messages to their target audience by having an online presence through a commercial page The article focused on finding out the gratification level of the Facebook business pages customers in Bangladesh Besides it also focused on changing the marketing system from the traditional market to commercial Facebook pages in the country This article also tries to find out the differences between Facebook business pages and traditional marketing try to predict the future of Facebook business pages based on analyzing the study result The article is based on U G theory in the 21st century by Thomas E Ruggiero It also uses the market segmentation approach by Philip Kotler The study conducted in both quantitative and qualitative methods To collect information the study uses survey focus group discussion and in-depth interview methods The result of the study shows that customers are the controller of the process of Facebook business page

Energetics of Cytoskeletal Gel Contraction

Cytoskeletal gels are prototyped to reproduce the mechanical contraction of the cytoskeleton in-vitro. They are composed of a polymer network (backbone), swollen by the presence of a liquid solvent, and active molecules (molecular motors, MMs) that transduce chemical energy into the mechanical work of contraction. These motors attach to the polymer chains to shorten them and/or act as dynamic crosslinks, thereby constraining the thermal fluctuation of the chains. We describe both mechanisms thermodynamically as a microstructural reconfiguration, where the backbone stiffens to motivate solvent (out)flow and accommodate contraction. Via simple steady-state energetic analysis, under the simplest case of isotropic contraction, we quantify the mechanical energy required to achieve contraction as a function of polymer chain density and molecular motor density. We identify two limit cases, (fm) fast MM activation for which MMs provide all the available mechanical energy instantaneously and leave the polymer in a stiffened state, i.e. their activity occurs at a time scale that is much smaller than solvent diffusion, and (sm) slow MM activation for which the MM activation timescale is much longer. To achieve the same final contracted state, fm requires the largest amount of work per unit reference volume, while sm requires the least. For all intermediate cases where the timescale of MM activation is comparable with that of solvent flow, the required work ranges between the two cases. We provide all these quantities as a function of chain density and MM density. Finally, we compare our results with experiments and observe good agreement

Association of serum uric acid level with angiographic severity of coronary artery disease: a study in a tertiary care hospital, Chittagong, Bangladesh

Background: Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a major global health issue. Serum uric acid (SUA), a byproduct of purine metabolism, is linked to CAD development and progression. Elevated SUA levels are an independent risk factor for cardiovascular mortality and may indicate endothelial dysfunction. The aim of the study was to the observed associate serum uric acid level with the angiographic severity of CAD. Methods: This observational study was conducted at Chittagong medical college hospital in Bangladesh from October 2020 to September 2021. It included 130 patients and used unpaired t-tests to analyze the association between serum uric acid level and angiographic severity of CAD patients. Ethical clearance was obtained from the institutional review board of Chittagong medical college and hospital. Results: A study of 130 patients found a significant relationship between serum uric acid (SUA) levels and CAD (CAD), vessel involvement, and CAD severity (p=0.001). Patients with CAD had higher SUA levels (mean 5.26±1.32 mg/dL) compared to those without CAD (mean 4.22±1.03 mg/dL). A SUA level range of 3.94-6.58 mg/dL was associated with CAD presence. Gender also showed a highly significant association with SUA levels (p=0.001), while age, BMI, and smoking status did not show significant differences. Conclusions: A strong positive association has been found between serum uric acid level and the severity of CAD. The findings of this study approve the effectiveness of hyperuricemia as an emerging risk factor for CAD

Starting an Indian-Bangla restaurant in Kokkola : Analysis of the market

The overall objective of this particular thesis is to identify the opportunities and the newer ideas that may be upheld when attempting to put up an Indian Bangla restaurant in Kokkola. It conducts re-search that among others studies the nature of the market, the major aims of restaurant businesses as well as the analysis of the customers and the competitors. It is based on both research-based and theo-retical methodology. Its theoretical part is based on electronic sources, various books and a literature review. The qualitative method on the other hand was employed to conduct observation in two different Chinese restaurants along with a deeper interview with the owner of an Indian Bangla restaurant. Upon acquiring the necessary pieces of information, a SWOT analysis was carried out on the basis of the facts obtained. The end result of this arrangement was the drawing of a relevant conclusion from the research data. The interview with the Indian Bangla restaurant owner yielded positive hopes and opportunities for the newcomers in the market. Even though many difficulties and issues abounded, there were also many possibilities and support structures on the market. Many of the answers we obtained from the owners of the restaurants brought up some ideas and the procedures that may be of much use to the beginners. From the research of the market, we established the possibilities of putting up an Indian Bangla restaurant in Kokkola city. The city of Kokkola is home to multicultural people. Indian Bengla food has become very popular among the locals. The city of Kokkola is a great place to start an Indian Bengali restaurant business

Development of a web-based complaining system for FCSIT students

FCSIT complaint system is an online complaint management system for students of the Faculty of computer science and information technology in University Malaysia Sarawak that automates the entire complaint management process in FCSIT. This web-based system is being developed with exciting features extensively to facilitate the students for complaining about their problems, keep track of it and for authority to keeping records of all complaints and solve the complaints in a short time period. The current complaining system of FCSIT is manual. For students University Malaysia Sarawak has complaining system but students cannot report any faculty related problems on that system. The current complaining process of FCSIT is so timeconsuming, and sometimes management cannot take proper action because of insufficient complaint information. This project aims at investigating the opportunities of creating a webbased complaining system, digging up the limitation and challenges of existing complaining systems. To come out from these miseries web-based complaining system is considered as a potential remedy. This system is only accessible to students and the authority of FCSIT. Here students can register to complain which will send to the staff of FCSIT. If the complaint is irrelevant than staff can reject the complaint. Otherwise, the staff will take action on it. Students can check the progress of his/her registered complain. If the staff does not take any action on a given time, then the student will get a button to send the complaint to the higher authority. Then higher authority will take action on it. Authority and staff can check previously solved complaints to solve any relevant problems. This project aims to improve the current method, provide convenience, and minimize the time consuming for solving complaints in FCSIT

Diffuse sound fields, reverberation-room methods and the effectiveness of reverberation-room designs

The reverberation-room method, which assumes a diffuse sound field, has long been used for various standardized room-acoustical determinations – e.g. of surface-absorption coefficients, power levels of sound sources, transmission losses of acoustical partitions, etc. In this regard, a number of standards have emerged to offer some help by outlining necessary reverberation-room design guidelines to achieve sufficient sound-field diffuseness. However, unsatisfactory opinions regarding the prediction accuracy of the method, especially at low frequencies, have been reported over the years. This might be due to deviations from the assumed diffuse-field concept, which is very challenging to implement from an application point of view; also there are no straight-forward ways to characterize the degree of sound-field diffuseness. To investigate the problem and propose solutions, diffuse-field theory and existing standards have been revisited. Using numerical, finite-element-based, modal prediction, their capacity/effectiveness to achieve a diffuse sound field is analyzed by means of a number of descriptors (room-acoustical parameters). Because of time limitations, the concept regarding the design of a reverberation-room structure – i.e. size, shape, etc. – is mainly explored, rather than the internal test-setup arrangements. The prediction accuracy of different room-acoustical parameters are also determined by the reverberation-room standard methods, with respect to both the Sabine and Eyring versions of the diffuse-field formulae, and both in octave and third-octave bands. The minimum approachable frequencies of predictions and the quality of sound-field diffuseness are discussed in terms of the prediction accuracy of different room-acoustical parameters. Considering three room volumes prescribed by standards, and four room shapes for each of the volumes, it has been found that the reverberation room of volume 150 m³, as prescribed by the ISO 354 standard, with the typical dimensional orientation (longest x-dimension/shortest vertical dimension) yields better field diffuseness than the other rooms of different volumes and shapes. To check the possibility of further improvement of the field diffuseness, a number of additional features are integrated into that reverberation room. It is found that the rooms with diffusers and absorbent corner treatments yield improved sound-field diffuseness, while the rooms with diffuse surface reflection yield poor field diffuseness due to the increased surface absorption.Applied Science, Faculty ofMechanical Engineering, Department ofGraduat

Knowledge Sharing Process in Organisations: An Integrative Framework

Aim: Knowledge sharing in an organisation is a vital element of knowledge management that organisations deal with. A major challenge that organisations face today is to find skilled labour and to keep them within the organisation. The aim of this study is to find out how the knowledge sharing process takes place among employees and managers in organisations. Method: This study was conducted by using a qualitative method. Eleven semi-structured interviews were held with managers and employees in Swedish companies. A thematic analysis approach was used for analysing the results. Result & Conclusions: Despite organisations having the need and necessity to share knowledge between employees, they don’t have a systematic approach on how to do so. This study provides a developed framework on how the knowledge sharing process can take place to ensure that knowledge isn’t lost due to retirement or unexpected leave. Suggestions for future research: Since this study is limited to Swedish companies, it would be of interest if future research would be conducted in the field of knowledge sharing to find out whether the sharing process varies from organisation to organisation, industry to industry or country to country. Moreover, this study suggests that future research should be conducted on knowledge sharing in combination with succession planning. Contribution of the thesis: As there was no systematic knowledge sharing process found in previous research, this study contributes to the existing theory with a developed integrated framework on the knowledge sharing process. Moreover, this study has contributed with providing a well-formulated understanding about the importance of knowledge sharing for organisational success. Keywords: Knowledge, knowledge sharing, knowledge sharing process 

The Impact of Payment Context on the Use of Mobile Payment Systems.

The development of the Internet and the arrival of e-commerce fostered digitalization in the payment processes by providing a variety of electronic payment options including payment cards (credit and debit), digital and mobile wallets, electronic cash, contactless payment methods etc. Mobile payment services with their increasing popularity are presently under the phase of transition, heading towards a promising future of tentative possibilities along with the innovation in technology. At this point of the development, we look at the current state of the payment services market from a literature review perspective. We review prior literature on technology adoption and analyze the various factors that impact choice of payment method, specifically mobile payment. To facilitate the analysis of literature, we propose a framework based on The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology 2 (UTAUT2) developed by Venkatesh, Thong and Xu in 2012. Notably, we have expanded the model by introducing the impact of contextual factors such as product involvement of item purchased, time pressure and whether the purchase happens online or offline on the choice of the payment method